a scrooge day

yesterday was one of the worst days i've had in a long time. started off okay, but while i was at work, i got an e-mail that made my heart sink...long story, but some of you know that i'm trying to defend my dissertation proposal in a few weeks. well, the implications of the e-mail are that i probably won't be able to defend when i originally planned to...and i'm already behind, so this is pushing me back even further, which puts my funding in jeopardy. greeeat.

then, the school office called me to tell me that i received a package from dell: either my laptop or the free color printer that came with it. so i head over there to pick it up, and decide to park at a meter near school so i won't have to carry the box too far.

i head over to the office, and the secretary suggests that i open it up. at first glance, it looks a little bit odd - the packaging was two boxes taped together, and things inside sounded like they were loose...so i open it up, and it's almost unrecognizable as a printer...like one that had maybe been run over by a car or something. eh? dunno what dell was thinking, but the secretary who handled my order said that she'd take care of it. kinda a letdown that i was walking away emptyhanded, plus, most of campus is shut down next week, so even if my stuffs arrive, i won't get it for another week.

also, while i'm on campus, i decide to talk to someone about the e-mail and my defense, which i did, and it didn't help much, but i did find out who else i can talk to that could maybe help. then i get back to my car, and, you guessed it, i got a ticket. but i got it for being in the red!! the red that's between meter spots for no good reason, and i was maybe less than a foot into it!!! at that point, i was ready to sit down and cry, but i had to go talk to someone about my defense. so i go down to the building where i was told the office was, but it's not there. they direct me to another office building, but it's the wrong personnel office. but at least, this place knew where i was supposed to go. at this point, though, i was tired, so i decided to go to my school office nearby, and there i was saved, a little bit. my professor happened to be in, so she assured me that they would take care of things. then, my other co-workers were there, and they were sympathetic ears to my venting. began to feel better...

went home to have dinner with my family 'cuz it was my dad's birthday. we had a nice relaxed dinner, i was feeling even better, and then my parents took off to go to a concert. so i headed over to susan h's, and we went over to the grove for dinner (no, i didn't eat again...just a few bites here and there), and caught their fake "snowfall" (actually suds/bubbles, but looked pretty good coming down). after shopping a little bit (had a good time at pottery barn kids) and enjoying the holiday decorations, we headed back to susan h's place for brownies and hot cider. a very nice, happy ending to a bad day...

this morning, i tried to tackle the defense issue, and though my professors are trying to help, i don't think it's going to work out...dunno what i'm going to do...sigh.